$49,450 Childhood Cancer Research Grant Awarded to Children’s Blood & Cancer Center at Dell Children’s

AUSTIN, Texas (January 28, 2015) – The St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a volunteer-driven and donor-centered charity dedicated to raising money for childhood cancer research, is proud to award a one-year, $49,450 grant to the Children’s Blood & Cancer Center at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. This grant is one of 40 infrastructure grants awarded as part of the Foundation’s most recent grant cycle, totaling more than $2.5 million and surpassing last year’s total awarded during this same period.

Due to the steady population growth each year in Central Texas, the demand for pediatric oncology services continues to increase. Despite this growth, federal funding for clinical trial participation continues to decline. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation Infrastructure Grant will enable the Children’s Blood & Cancer Center’s research program to sustain its current research staffing model and ensure that all eligible families will be able to participate in childhood cancer clinical trials.

“Our program has expanded over the past few years and we are continuously facing the financial challenge of doing more with less,” says Principal Investigator Sharon K. Lockhart, M.D. “With this award, St. Baldrick’s is ensuring that every new patient who is eligible to be enrolled in a clinical trial will have that opportunity.”

This series of grants, combined with the more than $24.7 million awarded in July to fund cutting-edge research, brings the St. Baldrick’s Foundation’s funding total to more than $27.2 million awarded in 2014. Grants were awarded based on the need of the institution and its patients, anticipated results of the grant and local participation in St. Baldrick’s fundraising events and activities.

“These grants are critically important to saving children’s lives, and would not be possible without our dedicated volunteers and generous donors who believe kids deserve better than medicine is currently able to provide,” said Kathleen Ruddy, chief executive officer for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

To learn how you can get involved visit www.StBaldricks.org, and connect with St. Baldrick’s on social media via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Vimeo.

About CBCC
The Children’s Blood & Cancer Center is a department of the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas and exists to cure and prevent childhood and adolescent cancer and blood disorders. The center is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for each child and adolescent served through individualized treatment, compassionate care and research.
www.dellchildrens.net/cancer

About St. Baldrick’s Foundation
The St. Baldrick’s Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives. St. Baldrick’s coordinates its signature head-shaving events worldwide where participants collect pledges to shave their heads in solidarity with kids with cancer, raising money to fund research. Since 2005, St. Baldrick’s has awarded more than $154 million to support lifesaving research, making the Foundation the largest private funder of childhood cancer research grants. St. Baldrick’s funds are granted to some of the most brilliant childhood cancer research experts in the world and to younger professionals who will be the experts of tomorrow. Funds awarded also enable hundreds of local institutions to participate in national pediatric cancer clinical trials, and the new International Scholar grants train researchers to work in developing countries. For more information about the St. Baldrick’s Foundation please call 1.888.899.BALD or visit www.StBaldricks.org.

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